D&D (2024) Take A Deeper Look At The New D&D Starter Set's Card-Based Characters

Heroes of the Borderlands, the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons 2024 starter set due out in September, was on display at New York Toy Fair, and the YouTube channel Otakus & Geeks were given a brief demo. The way the cards, standees, and maps are presented it looks like they took some inspiration from 1989's boardgame HeroQuest!

• Character creation is card-based.
• Each player has a 'class board', such Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, and Warrior (it's not clear if the demonstrator misspoke and meant to say Rogue or not).
• Then you pick a species card and a background card and place them on your class board.
• Those components the tell you what equipment or spell cards to also pick up--for example, the Fighter takes the cards for chainmail. greatsword, a lantern, and one additional item.
• The class board and the equipment cards tell the players what dice to roll for attacks, etc.

• The DM has a small, 10-page guide.
• There's a big battlemap for each of the three main areas (presumably Keep, Caves, and Wilderness?), and a booklet for each.
• Monsters have tokens and corresponding monster cards for the DM.

 

[R_J_K75]

My main complaint with 5E 2024 is that they increased complexity of character creation.

Yeah, the overall page count of the class section is very large which I think comes out to about 14 pages for each class. It's too much IMO.

 

[michaeljpastor]

I get people are comparing to Daggerheart since it releasing soon, but I feel it is far more similar to Gloomhaven, or more closely their "starter" set... Jaws of the Lion. Cards for characters and items that likely can be "upgraded" during advancement. It would be easy to do a level or four with two multi sided cards and additional cards for abilities. Stand tokens for monsters and battle mats that can be referenced in books. It does seem to be a crosspoint between Boardgame and TTRPG

The playmat and cards were also present in Return to Dark Tower (they have supply, treasure and monster cards as well), which was released in 2022.

 

[Parmandur]

I would have prefer to get full rules for the game like the 2014 starter set but I quite like the idea to create and track character progression on a class board. It seems a really intuitive way to teach the game to kids.
I can also imagine they could do a few other set to expand on this idea and and new boards and cards for higher levels etc.

Worth considering that in 2025, the full rules are readily available for free, particularly to digital native kids. The dice and cards and such might be more valuable to players starting out.

 

[Parmandur]

I really don't want to sound like I'm dumping on this starter set, because I think it looks brilliant, well-designed, and like it will be a ton of fun. I think the comparisons to Gloomhaven or HeroQuest are spot on, and I'm here for it.

BUT...

I think it's a bad "starter set". It is fundamentally a new thing, and someone who starts on this set, enjoys it, and goes on to pick up the core books is likely to be disappointed. A "normal" long-term campaign played on a VTT or a table with (or without) minis is going to feel very different from this, I think.

I could totally see this being a success, and I could see "expansion sets" for this being popular. Play it up like the old school boxed sets for nostalgia (first expansion is in a blue box called 'expert rules' or similar). But I think it's a branching point between this and the core TTRPG books, not a driver that naturally points people towards them.

I mean, the component stuff is fun, but it doesn't seem to fundamentally change the nature of the game.

 

[Argyle King]

I mean, the component stuff is fun, but it doesn't seem to fundamentally change the nature of the game.

I could see how it might change how people approach the game and what people expect from a game experience.

Though, if I can touch upon an idea I mentioned in a previous thread (for which I was called crazy,) I could see a scenario in which cards and components are part of the sales model going forward.

Perhaps even randomized card packs

 

[MonsterEnvy]

My main complaint with 5E 2024 is that they increased complexity of character creation. It seems they realize this. Maybe this will help ease people into the complexity of full on PHB character creation. But that doesn't solve the underlying issue.

Looks cool, though!

Current character creation is easier than it was back in 2014.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I could see how it might change how people approach the game and what people expect from a game experience.

Though, if I can touch upon an idea I mentioned in a previous thread (for which I was called crazy,) I could see a scenario in which cards and components are part of the sales model going forward.

Perhaps even randomized card packs

That’s not the purpose of this stuff, it’s just reference cards.

 

[R_J_K75]

Though, if I can touch upon an idea I mentioned in a previous thread (for which I was called crazy,) I could see a scenario in which cards and components are part of the sales model going forward.

Perhaps even randomized card packs

When I first saw that cards were being introduced, I was very surprised and thought wow, WotC is not necessarily staying the course I thought they would.

That’s not the purpose of this stuff, it’s just reference cards.

Maybe not, but if not randomized packs, then at least "booster" packs. With what little we know about this now I don't think it's out of the realm of possibilities that WotC has plans to take the game in directions not yet seen.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

When I first saw that cards were being introduced, I was very surprised and thought wow, WotC is not necessarily staying the course I thought they would.

Maybe not, but if not randomized packs, then at least "booster" packs. With what little we know about this now I don't think it's out of the realm of possibilities that WotC has plans to take the game in directions not yet seen.

Reference cards are already sold they are not new. The Essentials kit several years back also came with a bunch of reference cards a lot like the ones shown in this starter set.

 

[Tonguez]

Yeah Ive been thinking about card based character creation for a bit, then tend to leap to cardbased combat too - looks like a fun little set